Anaheim Ducks Exploring Trade For Cam Fowler

Cam Fowler has been an extremely consistent piece of the Anaheim Ducks' back-end for 14 seasons, but his time with the team may soon come to an end. The Ducks have been going through a rebuild and there are some great young players on defense that are going to start earning more playing time. As they develop at the NHL level and should be playing more, Fowler is going to continue aging into his 30s.

Fowler has logged at least 24 minutes per game on average in five of the last eight seasons, doing so in three consecutive as well. He kills over 200 minutes in penalties and hovers around 200 minutes in power-play time per season as well, but the former 12th overall pick is almost 33 years old.

He is coming off a season in which he scored five goals and 39 points, 18 on the power play, in 81 games. On 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Elliotte Friedman said that, "(Fowler's) a little bit older. They've got a lot of good young players, and eventually what you've got to start doing is you've got to say 'You know what Cam, we have to start taking some of your ice time so that these other players learn what it's like to play in the important situations.' Fowler knows that when they're good and they're really ready to contend, it's going to be their team and not his team."

The players that are going to be looking for more playing time include Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger, Jackson LaCombe, Tristan Luneau, and Drew Helleson potentially. Fowler has been a staple on the back-end for a while, but by the time the team is ready to compete, he is going to be in his late 30s. Fowler has two years left on his deal that has a $6.5 million AAV. The contract only carries a 4-team trade list, so the options are very limited unless he decides there are more teams he'd consider going to. In any trade, the Ducks are going to have to retain some money, but on a contender, Fowler is very much still a top-4 defenseman that can help win a Stanley Cup.